In 1939 Los Angeles, private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by glamorous heiress Clare Cavendish to find her missing lover, Nico Peterson, a prop master at Pacific Film Studios. He quickly learns that Peterson is dead, having been killed after falling down drunk before a car ran over his head outside the exclusive luxury Corbata Club. Marlowe visits Cavendish to tell her of Peterson's demise, also meeting the Pacific's owner, Philip O'Reilly, the soon-to-be Ambassador to England. Cavendish reveals she has seen Peterson since his supposed death, driving past her in Tijuana. Annoyed at her withholding this information, Marlowe goes to leave, running into Cavendish's mother, film star Dorothy Quincannon, who fails to learn what service Marlowe is providing to her daughter.
Marlowe visits Peterson's grave and encounters a mourning woman but she escapes before he can talk to her. Marlowe convinces his friend, homicide detective Joe Green, to open a murder investigation now they know the body was not Peterson's. Green admonishes Marlowe for his relentless pursuit of the truth and reveals that the body was identified by the Corbata Club owner, Floyd Hanson. Marlowe meets with Hanson at the club, the pair failing to extract information from each other. While leaving, Marlowe notices the woman from the grave, Peterson's sister Lynn, and clandestinely agrees to meet with her at the Cabana club later that evening; their discussion is observed by Hanson. When he arrives, Marlowe is assaulted by two men but beats them unconscious.
Quincannon tries to hire Marlowe to find Peterson for her instead. She reveals that her contentious relationship with her daughter is because she spent many years pretending Cavendish was her niece on the advice of O'Reilly, her former lover. Quincannon's former private investigator had learned that Peterson was also acting as a talent agent for actress Amanda Toxteth. Toxteth tells Marlowe that Peterson was a serial womanizer and regularly imported cocaine from Tijuana. Out of leads, Marlowe breaks into Peterson's house and encounters Lynn before the pair are attacked by two Mexican men looking for someone named Serena. Marlowe is knocked unconscious while Lynn is taken captive.
On waking, Marlowe is taken by drug lord Lou Hendricks and his henchman Cedric. Hendricks reveals he is after Peterson, his former drug courier, who stole a large amount of cocaine and the Corbata helped fake Peterson's death. Marlowe has his officer friend Bernie Ohls begin searching for Lynn, while Cavendish visits Marlowe to seduce him; he rejects her advances but shares a dance before she leaves. Marlowe secretly follows her to a rendezvous with O'Reilly, and runs into Quincannon who shares her anger at her daughter's relationship with the much older and powerful O'Reilly. The following day, Ohls takes Marlowe to Lynn's body, revealing she was tortured and raped before being killed. Ohls traces the Mexicans to the Corbata club and gives Marlowe his unofficial support to infiltrate the club and avenge Lynn.
Marlowe confronts Hanson who offers him a drink, but suspicious Hanson poisoned it, Marlowe throws it away and feigns that he is dying. Convinced he is dead, Hanson has his men take Marlowe's body through the hedonistic areas of the club to a secret area where the Mexicans have been killed, Hendricks is being tortured, and Cedric has been restrained. Under torture, Hendricks reveals that Serena is actually the mermaid statue Peterson placed in the adjacent fish tank and it contains the missing cocaine. Marlowe frees Cedric and the pair kill Hanson and his men, inadvertently destroying the mermaid and the drugs. Cedric also kills Hendricks after being told he will be indebted for years to repay the value of the drugs. Cedric decides to work with Marlowe so they can look out for each other.
Marlowe returns home to find Peterson waiting for him. Peterson admits he does not feel guilty about Lynn's death because of her association with him, and asks Marlowe to tell Cavendish to meet him in the studio prop house for information he has gathered about O'Reilly. The fake Peterson was a musician who resembled Peterson. Peterson meets Cavendish and reveals his extensive records of every drug deal made through the prop house with Hendricks, believing it will destroy the reputation of the studio and O'Reilly. As Marlowe arrives, Cavendish betrays Peterson, shooting him and setting both him and the evidence on fire, immolating the prop house, intending to use this deed to earn favor with O'Reilly and become vice president of the studio. Marlowe witnesses this but decides not to sell out Cavendish, confiscating her pistol.
Cavendish offers Marlowe a job as the studio's head of security but he declines, instead recommending Cedric. He then places Cavendish's pistol in Cedric's hands as the film ends.
Marlowe is actor Liam Neeson's 100th film.[5]William Monahan wrote the screenplay, adapting it from the 2014 novel The Black-Eyed Blonde by John Banville. Neeson came on board to star in March 2017,[6] and Neil Jordan signed on to direct in June 2021.[7] Additional castings were announced in November 2021.[8][9]
Principal photography took place for two months, starting in November 2021.[10][11] Filming for exterior scenes set in Los Angeles took place in Barcelona, Spain,[12] while interior scenes were shot in Dublin, Ireland.[13] Jordan cited the 1982 film Blade Runner as an influence on the film's look, stating, "I'm making a film set in L.A. in the past, but somehow it's a sci-fi film. […] It was a good reference for the designers and camera team."[14]
Release
Marlowe had its world premiere on 24 September 2022, as the closing film of the 70th San Sebastián International Film Festival.[15] It was originally set for a 2 December 2022 release in the United States, but was delayed to 15 February 2023.[16][17]
Reception
Box office
The film made $1.8 million in its opening weekend (and a total of $2.9 million over its first five days) from 2,281 theaters, finishing in eighth.[18]
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 26% rating based on 108 reviews, with an average rating of 4.9/10. The critics consensus reads: "Liam Neeson isn't necessarily a bad fit for the classic character, but Marlowe fails to make a case for itself as either a worthwhile franchise extension or a fun mystery in its own right."[19]Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 41 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[20] Audiences polled by PostTrak gave the film a 51% positive score, with 27% saying they would "definitely recommend" it.[18]
Reviewing from the San Sebastián International Film Festival, Screen Daily wrote, "With some crunchingly incongruous gags about famous screen MacGuffins, the knowing screenplay by Jordan and William Monahan...doesn't feel devious enough in its plotting or sufficiently fresh in reimagining either its hero or his LA world".[21] Guy Lodge from Variety wrote in his review, "Jordan's film is both resolutely conservative in its period framing and irksomely postmodern in its audience pandering".[22]
After its theatrical release, a review from Chicago Sun-Times's Richard Roeper said, "Thanks to the high-end production values, the juicy script and the vigorous performances from that first-rate cast, it's great to see another iteration of Marlowe on the case".[23]Mick LaSalle writing for San Francisco Chronicle said, "It's not a terrible movie, but a terribly misbegotten one, off in all its details. This is the work of a reasonable, intelligent director, Neil Jordan...who had a bad idea and then compounded it with wrong choices and crazy casting."[24]Frank Scheck from The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "But for all the authentic genre tropes on display, Marlowe never comes to life on its own, lacking the verve or wit to make it feel anything other than a great pop song played by a mediocre cover band".[25]
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